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Non-Standard Measurement Freebies

This week in math we were working on non-standard measurement, focusing mostly on length. I was only able to snap a couple of photos of one of our whole class activities this week. For this activity, we had a box (I grabbed 3 blue and 3 pink kitty litter boxes from the dollar shop) of different supplies in our groups and we had to choose an appropriate unit to measure each object on our sheet with. We did a similar activity on another day but we measured real objects in the classroom.

When finished, we underlined the shortest and circled the longest object. We then had to explain how we knew which object was the longest and shortest. During the I Do and We Do parts of the lessons during the week, we had worked on writing 3 sentences to explain how we worked it out: 

First sentence:      Say what you did and what you measured with. 
Second sentence:  Say what the measurements are. 
Third sentence:     Say which object was longest.

This helped most kids get past the “I looked at it and just knew” explanation!

This week we only did one rotation over four days using my T.I.M.E. rotations. 

For T: Teacher’s Choice we rolled cars labelled A-F down a ramp (made from a Really Good Stuff portable desktop pocket chart propped on a tub!) and measured the length each car travelled. I have groups of 6 so 3 students sat on each side of the ramp. One measured the length with unifix cubes by laying out trains of ten and then extra ones (great counting practice!) and the other side measured with paddle pock sticks. After 3 cars, they swapped what they measured with. Because this was the first week back after our Winter break, I had mixed ability groupings and did the same activity with all the groups. Most of the time, I do homogenous groups and tailor the Teacher’s Choice center to what each group needs.

For I: Independent Work, I put out a tub of classroom objects that each student estimated the length of in unifix cubes and then measured. When we reviewed estimating whole class, I had to reiterate that the estimate didn’t have to be perfect, it just had to be sensible! Earlier, I had students wanting to change their estimate to make it the ACTUAL measurement. This saying, which they could finish saying for me (!) really made them think and write down a sensible estimate.

For M: Math Facts I put out some review games from Lory Evans and Donna Boucher. The links take you to their TpT stores. I always put in a 100 chart and flash cards. The 100 chart they use for working out equations they don’t know. 

For E: Essential Review (which I call Easy Review with my firsties this year) we reviewed 3D shapes. I love this tub because we get to review topics that may not show up again in our math units for a little while. Sometimes I put in activities that we did during whole class lessons a few weeks earlier for independent practice or I put in new activities that covers concepts that I want them to reinforce (like this week with Natalie Lamont’s C3PO’s 3D shapes booklet).

You can pick up just the four sheets that I made this week on Google Drive by clicking here and here. Visit the TpT links above to grab the other great centers. 


You can read more about my T.I.M.E Math set-up here and here.

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6 Responses

  1. Hi Kylie,

    Thanks for sharing a bit about your math activities! I’m teaching non-standard units next week with my prep/1s and I was trying to come up with some good independent activities for my 1s. Now i know what we’ll be using!

    Stef
    Miss Galvin Learns

  3. Hi Kylie,

    I was just about to stop blog hopping and start planning for the week when I decided to read your post. So glad I did! I’m re-writing my timetable today hoping to organise my group work time more efficiently, and I’m going to start by reading about your TIME set up for Maths groups. I also loved the ideas you had for measurement – my class is mostly boys and they will go crazy for the car rolling activity!!

    Thanks so much for a super helpful post!

    Lauren
    Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep!

  4. I love the sound of your Maths plan Kylie – I will have to research it some more when I have time!

    Alison

  5. My boys, and girls, loved the toy rolling activity last week. It was so much fun and they couldn’t wait until their turn at the teacher rotation! I LOVE the TIME set up because it is easy for me to fit in with everything else we have to do. Whether you use a system like TIME or your own invention, the kids love working in groups for maths! Good luck!

Hey there!

I’m Kylie, the teacher and the creator behind Down Under Teacher. I design engaging, low-prep, and curriculum-aligned resources that make learning fun and teaching easier.
Whether you’re teaching in Australia or abroad, you’ll find fun, purposeful, and ready-to-use materials that help your students thrive — and give you a little more time to breathe (and maybe finish that coffee!).

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